Camper Shell A/C? For Snugfit Shell

I need to find an effective way of cooling the rear camper shell (like a snugfit) for my 2nd gen longbed dbl cab taco. I have to keep my siberian huskies cool. Leaving them inside the car just leaves the passenger compartment full of dog hair and drool. Not that I mind, but most of my passengers do!
Thanks
Canuck

Somewhere, years ago, May have been Camping World, I saw what amounted to a clear inner tube that, you put between the rear sliding window, and the front sliding window in the cap, and then inflated which formed kind of an air and water tite seal that let the cool air from the cabin flow into the covered bed. I am not sure how effective it was/is, (I am sure more effective on a short box truck then an long box truck), but atleast it's a start for an idea.

Seems like it is a 12 volt "swamp cooler" Uses Ice or Ice water, mounts to the roof of the cap, and taps into the 12 volt system and provides cooler, slightly damp air into the rear compartment, that combined with the donut between cab and cap may do the trick?

Great replies,thanks! I looked into the swamp cooler idea already. It might work, but I was thinking more of the rooftop a/c that are on top of r/v's. Again, this would be a side project with minimal expense. I'd like to get something like a used a/c or just buy a small a/c that mounts ontop of those popup tent-trailer. I would have to strengthen the camper shell. Anyhow, I will keep looking. THanks for your tips thus far!
Canuck

You might also want to insulate at least the top of the camper shell also, like with some foil-backed foam board on the inside ceiling. Reducing the amount of heat you're fighting from insolation (collection of heat from direct sunlight), will reduce the A/C capacity you need to put in there, and therefore the 12V load...

You might also want to insulate at least the top of the camper shell also, like with some foil-backed foam board on the inside ceiling. Reducing the amount of heat you're fighting from insolation (collection of heat from direct sunlight), will reduce the A/C capacity you need to put in there, and therefore the 12V load...

Click to expand...

True, thanks for the idea!

This Coleman requires less amps and puts out 9500btu which is still good

The coleman roof mount air units are massive in general, the biggest size and weight wise in the RV market, even the one you linked is 8 lbs heavier than the carrier that you linked earlier.

The way I see it you have two problems with putting an RV air unit on a truck cap. The first is power consupmtion, and the second is structural.

Power wise, the on-board inverter is rated to 400 watts at idle in neutral and or park, and 100 watts in gear. Even if it were rated at 400 watts while rolling down the road you are well short of your power requirements. I am no electrician, so on this second part I may be wrong, but even if you were to put a 5000 watt inverter in the truck, and upgrade all the wiring to be able to withstand that amount of juice, I suspect that you would be sitting on the side of the road with a dead battery and or fried alternator in no time at all, since I am pretty sure that even the bigger alternator that comes with the towing package would not be able to keep up with that load as well as the rest of the electrical demands of the truck. The only way to run an AC unit like these is off of shore power, or a generator.

The structural problem comes in to play because RV air units are not solid mounted to the roof, they are mounted on a very tough but flexible gasket. This gasket acts like an innertube, producing an air and water tite seal, but at the same time permits the air unit to bounce a bit while running down the road. not to mention the pulling and pushing fprces that will be exerted on it from the slipstream of air that hits it as you are driving, or the crosswinds. Also while a cap may be rated for a roof load of say 100 lbs, that would be 100 lbs evenly spread over the entire roughly 4 foot by 6 foot cap surface. This would be nearly all of that load in a 16 x 22 INCH section of the fiberglass.

Give the donut idea a try first. If you wanted to try it out before spending the money on the ebay item I linked, go get a 26x2.2" mountain bike innertube from your local bike shop (should be about 5 bucks) and put it in place and inflate it. Then turn the air on max and go for a drive and see what happenes. That coupled with limo tinting the cap windows may be all you need. Afterall, the Tacoma shares a platform and a good bit of parts with the 4-runner, including AC compressor. On a 4 runner it manages to keep that much area cool. If that doesn't work out, then I think you need to perhaps re-visit the swamp cooler idea, or keep looking for a much smaller AC unit. Example, my RV has a 15,000 BTU air unit on it, and it is 21 feet long by 7 1/2 feet wide, by 8 1/2 feet tall. (1338.75 cubic feet) That air unit is capable of making it downright frigid in the trailer even at mid-day in the sun. You are looking to cool an area that is 6 feet long, by 4 feet wide, by 4 feet tall (roughly) (96 cubic feet), which is significantly less.

Sorry if it seems like I am pissing on your parade, I am just trying to help.

No pissing on my parade. Just want advice. Thanks for taking the time to respond. I was planning on getting the tacoma, I can get it through the fleet dept for a nice deal. But I already have a 2006 4runner. I think I will just save my money and put it in the 4runner. I need to find some way of protecting the door panels because they are made of foam. My dog already tore up both sides. Can't blame him, its cooler towards the front of the 4runner and he's a husky.
Thanks again for your advice!
Canuck